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They are only 5.5 miles apart!
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"True enough.
I was astonished, though.
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"Racegoers from both courses will be hitting the A27 at around the same time. Given that this arterial route is a nightmare at the best of times and on a Friday evening inparticular, this sort of scheduling is unlikely to win racing any fans.
Very good point, IMO, Tonge.
Whichever way you look at it, it’s all a bit bonkers.
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"It’s absolutely ludicrous to have two courses that are so ridiculously close to each other, Goodwood and Fontwell, racing on the same evening, even if one of them is Flat and the other National Hunt.
If one meeting had been in the afternoon and the other in the evening, you could nearly justify it. That has happened at places like Hexham and Newcastle and at Doncaster and York.
The evening clash deprives local people, some of whom might like to go to both meetings, from doing so and it will no doubt result in reduced crowds for both courses as they are drawing racegoers from the same catchment areas.
No doubt both courses will moan later in the year about reduced crowds and will blame the cost of living crisis when, in reality, crazy programming like this will just make things worse.
It’s also an inconvenience for people like locally-based bookmakers, who will have to decide whether to have double staffing or just miss one of the meetings, but presumably the clash has been sanctioned by the courses themselves. You just can’t help some people.
Those people who, years ago, used to complain bitterly about Sedgefield and Wetherby racing on the same day on Boxing Day on the grounds that the two courses were too close and it was depriving those courses of potential racegoers will be aghast at this completely ridiculous clash.
Eyebrows used to be raised about Nottingham and Southwell or Nottingham and Leicester occasionally clashing on the same afternoon but Goodwood and Fontwell the same evening is laughable.
I’ve got to love a Crusty Patch rant – even when it’s at me! – there aren’t enough of them.
I 100% agree with every word of that.
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"If, as google maps suggests its a 15 min drive between the two, one could see all the races.
But definitely not in the land of common sense..At least the crowds that go to either meeting will presumably pay a standard price.
Anyone heading to Aintree on the same night will have to pay £50 for the cheap seats.
But they do get to see Pete Tong do whatever it is he does, once all that racing stuff is over and done with.
He is still with us, aged 97. I remember my mother listening to his show on Radio 2.
Doesn’t surprise me – a lot of local pensioners (some ex-military) top up their pensions by being race-day staff at Britain’s racecourses and very pleasant the vast majority of them are too.
These West Sussex ones will be losing out on a race-day shift.
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"We may not be happy about the prices CAS but, apparently, Aintree is sold out on Friday night. Difficult to argue with the economics if it sells out at those prices.
For people like me many race days are, quite simply, off limits nowadays.
– Any Saturday (I last went on a Saturday on Beverley Bullit Day in 2021 and tbf it wasn’t too bad, but drunken lads were getting larey towards the end, various terrace football chants had broken out from the third race onwards and it wasn’t an ideal atmosphere).
– Any meeting with live music after racing. Hideously overpriced if you intend to simply go home after the last and another larey crowd.
– Any “Ladies” or “Gentlemens” themed meeting as they don’t tend to attract many ladies or gentlemen from what I can see.
– Many big race days generally as they’re overpriced.
I tend to go to quiet midweek afternoon meetings – Epsom’s April meeting, Sandown Park Classic Trial Day or Brigadier Gerard evening, the occasional Brighton, Salisbury, Bath, Goodwood or Fontwell Park (if they’re not clashing!), that sort of thing.
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"Agree Nenni. Aintree is a very successful, commercial operation.
If you want to go to a concert, £50 is a fair price. If you are only interested in going to a moderate Friday evening race meeting, it isn’t.
I have resigned myself to not going to those sort of meetings anymore. I accept I am not the target audience and I would not enjoy being in a large, noisy crowd.
Aintree still provides an outstanding value card on the Thursday of the National meeting. If that price is kept down by a combination of the Ladies Day crowd, the Sugababes and Pete Tong, then so be it.
The Sunday meeting at the end of October is also good value and the November Saturday has been free to RTV subscribers for the last two years. I expect I will go to those two meetings and to the new Boxing Day fixture as well.
It seems to be a straight swap between Fontwell and N Abbot. In previous years, Fontwell raced today in the afternoon, N Abbot was the evening meeting alongside Goodwood on the Friday.
Neither of those NH meetings was getting big crowds, so perhaps they both feel they’ll do better in the new slot.
Don’t think the A27 will be a problem as most of the Goodwood crowd will be staying after racing to listen the music.
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